This week, 43 primates escaped from the Alpha Genesis Primate Research Center in Yemassee, South Carolina and residents were warned to keep their windows and doors locked. This is not the first time threats to the public from animals used in research have occurred.
Three months before Louisiana's 2005 Hurricane Katrina, over 40 monkeys escaped from the Tulane Primate Center in Covington, La and some remained on the loose. (During the actual Hurricane 8,000 animals, drowned, died without food and water or were euthanized in labs.)
Ten years later, the the same primate center was investigated by the CDC because "deadly bacteria used in bioweapons" used on monkeys was spreading.
While some people fear deadly pathogens and/or primate attacks, many more are shocked to hear what transpires behind the "Plexiglass Curtain." Bio-weapons? Lethal pathogens? Non-recovery procedures? Paid for by our tax dollars? Who knew?
In fact, exposure of such taxpayer-funded research is so sensitive, in 2009 the University of Iowa was cleared to construct a "subterranean vivarium" for "an extra measure of protection from animal rights extremists," reported The Scientist. The measure would assure that activists could not see the purpose-bred animals arriving on their one-way journey and the general public could not hear screams (though dogs are sometimes given vocal cordectomies just in case.) No wonder activists chant, "Nothing to hide? "Let us inside."
Research Monkeys in the News
It is doubtful the escape of monkeys in South Carolina will spark new interest in animal research but it should. Recently, a company working for Charles River Laboratories was fined for improperly shipping endangered long-tailed macaques for research reported Statnews and probes into similar violations of international treaties are underway.
Ethiopian Airlines similarly "shipped thousands of endangered monkeys crammed into tiny wooden crates halfway around the world," wrote People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), for the "grueling journey of 10,000 miles" to US labs.
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